Gin Gimlets, cats dressed as sharks, and other stress relievers

It was a busy afternoon in the office, and we were in need of a moment of calm. That’s when Jon sent me the gif of a cat jumping off a bed into a beanbag.

It was the right video at the right time, I guess.

My colleagues gathered around my desk to watch, and then, after several minutes of cat face-planting, they started to suggests new cute fixes – “there’s a cat that’s dressed up as a shark riding on a Roomba chasing a duck – Google that. It’s awesome.“

“I’m following a dog on instagram.” Angelina admitted. “That’s how stressful my life is, I need to follow a cute dog to get a daily moment of calm.”

She opened up a series of pictures of a pomeranian doing things like sitting up, lying down, sleeping, sitting up again, and wearing a hat.

“He’s just so adorable,” she squealed. “Here he is hugging his own paw. His own paw. Can you imagine. So cute!”

“Totally cute!” agreed Mattias, who only wears black, only eats organic vegan, and usually looks on the more serious side of life. We all smiled happily. Our shoulders unknotted, our brows unfurrowed.

What did people do before we had such innocent ways of tamping down tension and stress?